Polished Lifting

I have yet another brand new indie maker to share with you today. Rebekah of Kaayli Nail Finish sent me three lovely metallics to share with you.

Icy Blue





Icy Blue is a super light blue metallic. It's so light that it could almost pass for a silver/grey. The formula was really smooth and easy to work with. While both photos show two coats of Icy Blue, I would suggest using three coats for full coverage.

Polishes used: Kaayli Nail Finish- Icy Blue

Sea Green





Sea Green was by far my favorite color of the three. It's a light-medium blue with a gold duochrome effect. The formula on this was a little odd because of the large amount of pigment used. When I opened it up there was a ton of lumpy pigment in the upper portion of the cap. After resealing it and giving it a couple good shakes everything mixed in nicely. I would recommend shaking the bottle in between coats to keep everything thoroughly mixed, but it is definitely worth the extra effort.

Polishes used: Kaayli Nail Finish- Sea Green

Christmas Green





Christmas Green reminds me of wandering aimlessly through Christmas tree farms searching for the right Douglas Fir. It's rich and velvety color is perfect for this time of year. This color is completely opaque in two coats, and was a dream to apply.

Polishes used: Kaayli Nail Finish- Christmas Green

Conclusion

I honestly haven't touched metallics in years because I never found anything special about them. Kaayli Nail Finish showed me how far metallics have come over the years with an assortment of unique colors. Sea Green was my favorite color in the collection because of it's duochrome appearance. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this collection, and highly recommend checking them out.

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Kaayli Nail Finish is currently hosting a giveaway. The announcement on her Etsy shop reads:

ENTER NOW TO WIN! To celebrate our Etsy launch, Kaayli Nail Finish is running a contest starting November 6, 2013 and ending on December 31, 2013. Three lucky winners will receive a $10 Kaayli Nail Finish gift certificate; no minimum purchase required! To enter, simply email your name to kaaylinails [!at] gmail.com and use "I Want To Win!" as your subject line. The drawing will take place on January 2, 2014 and winners will be notified the same day.

Today I have a new indie brand to share with you. Nail Tisane is run by Danii and encompasses many different types of polish. You can find everything from jellys to holos. Danii was kind enough to send me five unique colors to swatch and review.

Holographic Steam





Holographic Steam is a taupe/sandstone color loaded with sparkle. I found the formula excellent to work with.  I have a few brown holos, but this one is truly unique in color. This is currently a prototype, and is not yet available in her shop.

Polishes used: Nail Tisane- Holographic Steam (2 coats)

Ultros Glam





Can we just take a moment to appreciate how gorgeous this is? I really enjoy the low-key blue and red sparkles. It's subtle, but just enough to catch your eye. The application on this was incredibly easy and it dried quickly.

Polishes used: Nail Tisane- Ultros Glam (2 coats)

Pale





Pale is a translucent, milky base with several shapes of iridescent glitter and white diamond glitter. I wish there had been more iridescent glitter (of all shapes and sizes) as well as a few more diamonds. The formula was a bit runny, and was difficult to control. I spoke with Danii, and she said that she was transitioning over to a new suspension base. It sounds like the runniness will not be a problem in the future.

Polishes used: Nail Tisane- Pale (2 coats)

Snow Queen





Snow Queen is a very light blue jelly. I personally thought Snow Queen looked nice over white, but I didn't care for it on its own. I wish this would have been as blue on the nails as it is in the bottle. The formula was a bit thick, and had some trouble drying.

From left to right: 2 coats no undies, 1 coat over white, 1 coat no undies

Polishes used: Nail Tisane- Snow Queen

The Horseman's Head





The Horseman's Head is a green jelly made up of iridescent glitter, green hexagon glitter and a flat grey glitter. The formula was also a bit thick, but I found it worth the effort. This is two coats over white.

Polishes used: Nail Tisane- The Horseman's Head, Sally Hansen- Timeless White

Conclusion

Holographic Steam and Ultros Glam were definitely unique to anything I have ever used. I liked Pale, Snow Queen, and The Horseman's Head, but I felt like the formulas were difficult to work with. I would love to see more pigment in Snow Queen and The Horseman's Head to make them true jellys.

Right after Danii sent me these colors she added new holos to her shop. Some colors I found noteworthy are: Wintermint Frosting, Lavender Frosting, and Raven's Wing.

Do you see where this is going? THE MUMMY. Cassandra of Sweet Heart Polish released a whole line based on The Mummy. I don't think you guys understand my excitement here.
I decided to take this in a non-traditional direction to see all the fun ways you can wear these gorgeous holos.
Book of Amun-Ra


Book of Amun-Ra is a perfect description of this ultra sparkly color. This is a yellow/gold holo with slightly larger holographic glitter. It was a little bit thick, but I still found it easy to work with as long as you removed excess polish from the brush.  I'm going to be totally honest with you guys, I hate yellow and wasn't excited about this one. The crazy thing is, I FREAKING LOVE THIS! I swatched it over yellow and started to warm up to it, but then I put it over white and fell in love. You win Cassandra, I actually love this yellow holo!
Polishes used: From left to right: two coats of Sweet Heart Polish Drink Book of Amun-Ra no undies, two coats over Sinful Colors Unicorn, two coats over Sally Hansen Timeless White, and one coat over Orly Liquid Vinyl.
Oasis of Ahm-Shere


Oasis of Ahm-Shere is an emerald holo. As you can see it is incredibly sparkly in a low light setting. Despite it's more pigmented appearance, I felt like this polish was a little easier to work with than Book of Amun-Ra. I did a quick test of this over white (not pictured) and it made the green appear lighter and more mermaid like. I personally prefer it over black to add more depth.
Polishes used: Orly Liquid Vinyl, two coats of Sweet Heart Polish Drink Oasis of Ahm-Shere
Drink From the Nile


Drink From the Nile is a super rich medium blue holo. I found it dazzling in a low light setting as well as in the sunlight. I caught myself staring at the sparkles several times throughout the day. The formula was a great consistency and applied very evenly. I have been wearing this color for a few days now and have received several compliments.
Polishes used: Orly Liquid Vinyl, Sweet Heart Polish Drink From the Nile
Conclusion
I am really impressed with this whole collection. Cassandra really surprised me with Book of Amun-Ra, and I am 99% sure I will burn through the whole bottle. Sweet Heart Polish definitely hit a home run with this collection. I am looking forward to seeing upcoming collections from Sweet Heart Polish.

All colors were generously provided by Cassandra for review.

I'm back with another Model City Polish review. I don't know if you can tell, but I really love Nina's work.



This was taken in natural light with no flash.



I underexposed this photo a bit so that you could see what Strawberry jam looks like in an indoor setting.

Look at all the glitter in the bottle! I am a huge fan of holographic glitter, so this polish was an instant win for me. It definitely helps that Nina formulates polish with the right consistency.

I would buy this again in a heartbeat.

Polishes used: 2 coats of Model City Polish- Strawberry Jam, Orly Bonder, Poshe Top Coat

About this time last year I was working an early morning shift. I was exhausted and not thinking about much of anything except finishing my shift so I could go home and sleep. I was plugging along until I got to a point where I couldn't quite reach the merchandise I needed to scan. Instead of doing the smart thing and grabbing a stool or "reacher-bar" I stood on my tip toes to reach the bar code. After scanning a few items my back started to feel like it was on fire.

The burning sensation was intense, but I pushed through knowing that the sooner I finish, the sooner I got to go home. I eventually went home in a great deal of pain, popped a few Advil and went to sleep. The next few days the pain continued to get worse. Every time I reached above my head or moved my arm repetitiously, my back would spasm. At this point, most people would have gotten themselves help. Not me. I was too stubborn. 

It took one whole week before I said anything to my managers. I came in for my weekly early morning shift and got right to work. About one hour in I broke down in tears while trying to tell our HR representative what happened. 

That afternoon I went to the hospital to get things checked out. The diagnosis: I sprained the right side of my back and needed physical therapy until I was no longer in pain. I hated physical therapy, it felt like the biggest waste of time. Despite that, it did help me. After a few sessions I was ok enough to rehab the injury on my own.

I still have back pain and spasms to this day if I do enough physical labor, or sit down for extended periods of time. I don't know if this is due to the nature of my injury, or the fact that I ignored it for so long.

I honestly wasn't going to write about this, but I feel like some of you might be able to learn from my mistakes.

Treat your body with respect, because you only get one.